Sunderland will lodge an appeal today against the dismissal of skipper Gary Breen during last night's 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United.

Manager Mick McCarthy was furious when Breen was shown the red card along with United's Andy Gray when they clashed in the 37th minute.

"There was a bit of pushing between two 6ft 2in players. One was trying to get space for a header and the other was trying to deny him it. They should have been told to stop shoving and get on with the game.

"Both said no arms were raised and I didn't see any claret or anybody holding his chin. They were bemused and amazed over the decision."

McCarthy is determined to fight to avoid a three-match ban for Breen, but the odds are stacked against the defender because no film of the off-the-ball incident is avaailable.

Referee Michael Dean, who sent off three players at West Brom earlier this month, dismissed the two players after being alerted to the incident by an assistant Martin Short.

"The assistant referee was looking along the line and must have been 40 or 50 yards away and nobody else has seen it," said McCarthy.

"This is not a beleagured, hapless manager with rose coloured spectacles saying these things. Only one bloke in the ground has seen it, so I find it a bizarre decision.

"It's not a frivolous appeal. If Gary had chinned him or elbowed him, we would take, but what happened is not fair, not right." The incident deflected attention from a disappointing performance by Sunderland, who were beaten by a second-half goal by Paul Shaw after Mart Poom pulled off several fine saves.

McCarthy admitted: "They were better than us in the first half, but game was going nowhere in the second half until we make a mistake and they took the chance well. It should have finished 0-0 after we weathered the storm before the interval."

Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock also confirmed that he will appeal against Gray's dismissal. He said: "It's scandalous that the red cards are the story and not our performance. We shouldn't even be talking about the referee. It was nothing to do with him - it's about what he was told by his assistant.

"Both managers asked him if he had ever played the game, but didn't get an answer. If he thinks that was violent, let's hope he never gets a European game.

"The players couldn't believe it. Their arms were flailing, but there were no elbows and nothing above the neck. I'd rather talk about the game. We played some great football and Poom made some fantastic saves before Paul Shaw took his goal well. My players were a credit to the club tonight."

Meanwhile, Ipswich frustrated Reading in their bid to break clear of the Coca-Cola Championship pack as Steve Coppell's men had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

The Suffolk side were celebrating Joe Royle's 1,000th game in management, and the leaders were caught out in the 10th minute when Shefki Kuqi latched on to a long ball to curl home Ipswich's first - the Finn's third goal in two games.

However, Dave Kitson equalised for Reading with his seventh goal of the season after 25 minutes - beating Kelvin Davis with a well-placed shot.

The top four all drew - meaning it was as you were, with second-placed Wigan held goalless at Watford. Leeds claimed their seventh clean sheet of the season to hold fourth-placed Stoke at Elland Road. Leicester have made a sluggish start on their return to life outside the top flight but claimed a 2-0 win at Gillingham.

Matt Heath scored for the Foxes when he was on hand to divert Dion Dublin's header into the net with four minutes of the second half played. Dublin added a second with 19 minutes left when he smashed home Trevor Benjamin's cross from the byline.

Honours were even at Deepdale as Preston earned a 1-1 draw against Plymouth. The visitors grabbed the lead in the 19th minute when Mathias Doumbe stooped to head home a corner, but the home side's equaliser came from the same route as Richard Cresswell met a flag-kick with his head after 65 minutes.